What I think will happen tomorrow

Thanks lemon your sympathy is appreciated. And actually I'm contemplating making this my standard for male politicians now-"Has he got a pretty face?". Bit difficult to find many to vote for though!

trisher ?
Poor you, accused of being taken in by both a pretty face and the Tories ......as if!
It did make me smile though, so not all bad.

Perhaps Johnson has noticed that voter suppression helped Trump!

Not only that, but the Tories lost overall control of the county of Cambridgeshire (a Labour/LibDem working agreement is looking likely) and Labour retained the City of Cambridge. Cambridge already has a Labour MP.

I live in Essex, but in the district bordering Cambridgeshire and we've just replaced a Tory with an independent. It's all quite strange.

I missed Labour Nik Johnson's win in the mayoral election for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, which was a Labour gain.

Labour won 11 of the 13 mayoral elections, so maybe Starmer should see if they have any tips.

PippaZ

Alegrias1

If ID cards are introduced that might get me out on the streets to demonstrate. And it will be noisy

I know Alegrais. But ID checks in return for a vote sounds awful too.

Especially when it cannot be applied to postal voting; which is where the potential for fraud is much greater.
It makes it look more like voter suppression than a move of any practical benefit.

Alegrias1

If ID cards are introduced that might get me out on the streets to demonstrate. And it will be noisy

I know Alegrais. But ID checks in return for a vote sounds awful too.

Alegrias1

If ID cards are introduced that might get me out on the streets to demonstrate. And it will be noisy

? - see you in 10 years then.

Prisons are going to be packed!

If ID cards are introduced that might get me out on the streets to demonstrate. And it will be noisy

You have a filthy mind trisher.

Whitewavemark2

If IDs are made compulsory if you vote, then every individual reaching voting age should be sent one automatically at the age of voting. Johnson isn’t making it compulsory, banking on the fact that the young are like him at 50odd and somewhat chaotic, so many will not get an ID in time to vote. The vast majority of the young vote for a left of Tory party.

Voting fraud in the U.K. is absolutely minimal, so there is no issue with that whatever Johnson says.

ug will be pleased to know that this is right out of Trumps “how to suppress the vote” book.

That is exactly what I was thinking this morning. Either we have proper ID for all or not. This is an incredibly divisive proposal.

PippaZ

trisher

Interesting isn't it in the same edition of the Guardian there is an article about Andy Burnham returned as Manchester mayor with 67% of the vote. Is it perhaps another sign that politics is all about personalities and not policies these days?

So do you see this as a pretty man with a nice personality winning something akin to a Miss/Mr Manchester competitions? Or is it the case that he is someone who fought for the people he represents and got their votes that way? Even though it is difficult in current times it might be worth thinking that what he believes and achieves is actually what they want.

Yours is a very sad view brought about almost entirely by Johnson and his Tories who will milk the feelings rather than the thinking as the way to total power.

Wow if someone can misrepresent a statement you've done it so well! First of all personality has nothing to do with looks so your "pretty man" statement must be drawn from your own perception of Andy Burnham (MILF suddenly has a new meaning!!!)
As I wasn't just discussing him but the two Mayoral elections where the candidates gained a huge proportion of the votes, you seem to have ignored the other Mayor.
And as both of them had entirely opposing policies , it seemed reasonable to assume that personality had something to do with it.
Do you really think that in one area 70%+ of the population are Tories and in another almost 70% are Labour? Or could it be that they vote for someone who does something and what that something is doesn't really matter?
My own opinion of Andy Burnham really has nothing to do with this.

If IDs are made compulsory if you vote, then every individual reaching voting age should be sent one automatically at the age of voting. Johnson isn’t making it compulsory, banking on the fact that the young are like him at 50odd and somewhat chaotic, so many will not get an ID in time to vote. The vast majority of the young vote for a left of Tory party.

Voting fraud in the U.K. is absolutely minimal, so there is no issue with that whatever Johnson says.

ug will be pleased to know that this is right out of Trumps “how to suppress the vote” book.

trisher

Interesting isn't it in the same edition of the Guardian there is an article about Andy Burnham returned as Manchester mayor with 67% of the vote. Is it perhaps another sign that politics is all about personalities and not policies these days?

So do you see this as a pretty man with a nice personality winning something akin to a Miss/Mr Manchester competitions? Or is it the case that he is someone who fought for the people he represents and got their votes that way? Even though it is difficult in current times it might be worth thinking that what he believes and achieves is actually what they want.

Yours is a very sad view brought about almost entirely by Johnson and his Tories who will milk the feelings rather than the thinking as the way to total power.

The last conviction for electoral fraud was the vote leave campaign.

The UK has low levels of proven electoral fraud.

www.electoralcommission.org.uk/who-we-are-and-what-we-do/our-views-and-research/our-research/electoral-fraud-data/2019-electoral-fraud-data

I see that there was one attempt in the PCC elections. Was that the Tory guy who stood despite being disbarred because of his police record?

Gajahgran

PippaZ so you are saying the political parties should form ideas totally at odds with the voters they are supposed to represent and then expect to be voted in. I think the Lib Dems have shown how that goes.
Obviously they cannot appease everybody but at least they could represent a good proportion. It's no good saying there is something wrong with the voters if you don't win the election. "It's not us it's them."

Where are their policies that are totally at odds with the voters? Tell me one policy where that is currently the case. You may not like them but presumably, the party does. This has not been about people bothering to even understand the policies for a long time - it's about feelings. Of course, parties need to know how the voters feel and why they feel that way and try to present their policies in a way that makes them "feel" good to the majority but they do not - no party does - ask them to decide what policies they put forward.

Parties need thinking and facts not feelings when determining policies. If a small group of people think that they want to form a party and put forward policies they are entitled to do so. What you seem to be saying is the mass of the voters should decide the policies. No party does that (thankfully). All parties put forward an offering and you vote on it. We do not run our country by plebiscite. If you want that, form a party and change the system.

There is something wrong if people only ever vote with their feelings instead of their brains. We all know what that can lead to and personally, I don't want a storming of parliament.

Surely stopping fraudulent voters has to be a good idea. I like to believe our elections are fair and honest.

Yes I have been on protests which were not noisy, and when they were noisy but police were not attacked

The Tories are certainly “straining every sinew” to ensure future success in elections that is for sure.

Voter ID to prevent election fraud they say. Guess who was last found guilty of election fraud? Guess who is most likely to vote Labour and least likely to get their act together to get an ID. If you need an ID to vote then they should be made compulsory at voting age.

The police bill to imprison a draconian 10 years those protesting and being noisy. Have you ever been on a protest that wasn’t noisy. There is no way you can remotely argue that the punishment fits the crime or even if it should be a crime.

Reform of the judiciary. The Tories are gunning for the judges who clipped their wings by insisting that they (the Tories) follow the law, which they broke.

Next of course we will have boundary changes which will be loaded.

vegansrock

The Tories are now the Conservukips so that’s why they are getting votes in the Ukippy areas.

Exactly! Hence the culture war.

The Tories are now the Conservukips so that’s why they are getting votes in the Ukippy areas.

It would be impossible to appease everybody. Political parties need to have core values and to have red lines where they are concerned. However, they also need to be pragmatic enough to realise that they need the majority of voters on their side and to recognise that compromises need to be made. The alternative is to make false promises to enough voters to "buy" their votes and get them onside. There are no alternatives in a FPTP system, which isn't going away for the foreseeable future.

PippaZ so you are saying the political parties should form ideas totally at odds with the voters they are supposed to represent and then expect to be voted in. I think the Lib Dems have shown how that goes.
Obviously they cannot appease everybody but at least they could represent a good proportion. It's no good saying there is something wrong with the voters if you don't win the election. "It's not us it's them."

varian

It will be a very important byelection where the voters in Batley and Spen will choose between a candidate who is the successor of Tracey Brabin and Jo Cox or the sort of people whose warped thinking led to the murder of Jo Cox

Tracy Brabin was lucky to win in 2019. The Conservatives could have won if the Heavy Woollen District Independents (aka UKIP) hadn't fielded a candidate.